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August 2019 Existing-Home Sales

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NAR released a summary of existing-home sales data showing that housing market activity this August rose 1.3% from July 2019. August’s sales of existing homes increased 2.6% from August 2018. August’s existing home sales reached a 5.49 million seasonally adjusted annual rate. This is the highest sales pace since March of 2018 when the index was 5.51 million.

The national median existing-home price for all housing types reached $278,200 in August, up 4.7 percent from a year ago. This marks the 90th consecutive month of year-over-year gains.

Regionally, three of the four regions showed growth in prices from a year ago. The Midwest had largest gain of 6.6% followed by the West with an incline of 5.7%. The South had an increase of 5.4% and the Northeast had a modest decline of 0.3% from August 2018.

August’s end-of-the month inventory figures fell from last month 2.1% to 1.86 million homes for sale. Compared with August of 2018, inventory levels were also down 2.6%. It will take 4.1 months to move the current level of inventory at the current sales pace. It takes approximately 31 days for a home to go from listing to a contract in the current housing market, homes only stayed on the market 29 days last year.

From July 2019, three of the four regions showed increases in sales. The Northeast had the biggest incline in sales at 7.6%. The Midwest rose 3.1% followed by the South with a modest gain of 0.9%. The West had the only decline of 3.4%.

From a year ago, all four regions showed inclines in sales. The South had the biggest gain in sales at 3.6% followed by the Midwest with a rise of 2.3%. The West rose 1.8% followed by the Northeast with the smallest increase of 1.4%. The South led all regions in percentage of national sales, accounting for 42.4 % of the total, while the Northeast had the smallest share at 12.9%.

In August, single-family sales were up 1.2% and condominiums sales were up 1.7% compared to last month. Single-family home sales were up 2.9% and condominium sales were flat compared to a year ago. Single-family homes had an increase in price up 4.7% at $280,700 and condominiums rose 5.2% at $257,600 from August 2018.